Nyack College will host its annual Social Justice Day luncheon in Shuman Hall of the Rockland campus on Friday, January 15, 2010 at noon. SUNY Rockland Community College president, Dr. Cliff L. Wood and his wife, Wylene Branton Wood, (pictured at right) educator and advocate for social justice and equality, will share the honor as recipients of Nyack’s 2010 Social Justice Award.

Dr. Wood has spent more than three decades at five institutions of higher education. Numerous accolades for his exemplary leadership include the 2009 Northeast Regional Chief Executive Officer Award recipient from the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). He chairs the Board of Directors for Good Samaritan Hospital and is president of the New York Community Colleges Association of Presidents.

Mrs. Wood, a former public school educator in Chicago and Los Angeles, and a former faculty member at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD, serves on the Board of Governors of Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Home and is president of the African American Historical Society of Rockland. She is also a board member of Rockland County’s Holocaust Museum and Study Center.

Keynote speaker for the luncheon, (pictured at left), is Rick Ufford-Chase. Mr. Chase is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and has been an advocate for nonviolence as a strategy to respond to situations of grave violence. Rick is also the co-director, with his wife Kitty, of the Stony Point Conference Center, where they are establishing a residential, multi-faith community committed to the study and practice of nonviolence.

Tickets with a modest fee are required and seating for the luncheon is limited. The RSVP deadline is Wednesday, January 13, 2010. Contact the Nyack College Office of Advancement at 845.675.4424 for more information. Click here to register online at the Nyack College website.